What mathematical knowledge and experiences should prospective mathematics education master students have in order to study the discipline�s academic agenda? How should the candidates� mathematical knowledge and reasoning be assessed? This study focuses on analyzing the ways in which prospective mathematics education students answered a 9 questions test to assess their conceptual understanding and use of mathematical knowledge. Each question was discussed within the admission committee and included a brief comment regarding why it was considered. The candidates� answers showed a variety of approaches and provided useful information to organize the academic activities and possible didactic routes to consider during the development of their mathematics education experiences. Results indicated that the accepted students need to be engaged in activities where they explicitly reflect on issues related to the process of understanding and making sense of problems or mathematical ideas, the relevance of using diverse cognitive and metacognitive strategies, the need to provide coherent arguments to support answers and the relevance of communicating results.

mathematics education, assessment, problem-solving approaches, mathematical profiles.